Meet the 23 yr old cyber security entrepreneur from Chandigarh

Trishneet's firm so far has raised a pre-series A funds from the MD of Kedia securities, Vijat Kedia and is looking to raise more than $10 million further next year in Series A funding.ETtech | December 16, 2016, 14:07 IST

For Trishneet, cyber security didn't suddenly emerge as a choice for him to start a firm on at such a young age. He narrates how it all started from his love for computer games at the tender age of eight.

During the hay days of summer last year, a Chandigarh based cyber security firm got a project from a Dubai based bank. The bank's board officials were fuming and were really petrified as one of their critical servers had got compromised and they had lost temporary access to it. The bank was not able to access its own customer's data.

A relatively new Indian firm worked day and night to revoke the bank's server's access back to them. The relief on the bank's senior team's members was evident.

The founder of the same cyber security company narrates an incident wherein his team was testing the network of a hospital in the United States. "They were using an ICU machine which was connected to their network. We were doing black Box testing and got into their ICU machine. We could shut down that machine and the patient lying on the board could have been killed. We later on highlighted this concern to the administration. There is data and financial loss but now even life is dependent on security."

This is a cyber security firm which is not a behemoth in terms of the number of customers, employees that other global security firms have or does not even claim to have a star studded panel of experts who sit around the globe.

The firm TAC Security Solutions based out of Chandigarh was founded in 2013 by a child geek, 23 year old ethical hacker, entrepreneur, cyber security expert, Trishneet Arora. "Cyber Security is often neglected in today's scenario even if it's a glaring concern for many companies. We are trying to make a difference to governmental and private organizations security infrastructure and create awareness on security challenges."

For a 23 year old, he is calm and composed, dressed amicably in a black suit and a blue tie. He has an effervescent smile and talks about data security challenges with ease of a decade old researcher.

For Trishneet, cyber security didn’t suddenly emerge as a choice for him to start a firm on at such a young age. He narrates how it all started from his love for computer games at the tender age of eight.

Trishneet was a curios kid. He use to cut open most of the toys, gadgets or any kind of hardware at home to see how it was made to work from inside. "My parents would bring toys for both me and my elder brother. Every time, after playing with a toy, I used to get bored and open up the toy to see how the machine worked. I cheekily used to sneak on my elder brother's toys and do the same," says Trishneet.

His love for toys continued on to desktop PC’s which for him was a bigger piece of hardware waiting to be opened up!His dad who was into accounting and taxation had got a windows machine at home. He started playing for endless hours on the computer on games like Vice city only to get the wrath of his father for not studying.

Trishneet recollects how he used to unscrew the entire CPU and learn about each part which goes into it. This inquisitiveness about computer hardware was gradually turning his passion for computer gaming into something bigger which he would fathom some years down the lane. "I used to play with the hardware components of my friends computer a lot. My neighbours and friends and relatives used to ask me to fix their machines," says Trishneet.

He recollects a sight when all that was lying around his bed was wires, computer peripherals and monitors.

Seeing his young son's craze for the computing machine, Trishneet's dad got himself another machine. Even that could not stay safe from the young wizard. Whenever his father was not around, he used to install games and play on the new machine. "Dad used to put the Bios password but if you remove the cell from the hardware, put it again, the password goes away. That way I always accessed his system."

Over the next few years, he continued his love for computers and used to be engrossed for hours learning about gadgets and how they function. Little did he know, that in two years time, he would amass a lot of information about how the computer systems, internet, basics of IT infrastructure and little bit of coding per se from various white papers and how to videos present online.

In 2012, he realized that various industry bodies needed ethical hackers from across the country. He thought rather than just being another ethical hacker doing the rounds, he could start giving back to people in terms of what he knows about hacking and security frameworks. "I started with the training workshops in schools and colleges. We fortunately did some classes in IIT Roorkie which lead to corporate trainings," says Trishneet.

During the same time, one of college students who was a part of his training sessions informed about Trishneet’s work to his father who turned out to be one of the executives at Nalco Tyres.

The executives from the tires and rubber products organization reached out to him for some security vulnerabilities. Trishneet instead of straightway solving the issue started training their personnel in cyber security skill sets so that they can safeguard themselves in the future. "This helped me grow the trust and build a good relationship with the company."

During this period, he developed a strong connect due to these trainings sessions in colleges and government bodies across states on data security issues and IT infrastructure. "The next few months taught me a lot of about working with government bodies, corporate and helped me develop this passion and transform it into a fully fledged firm which I named TAC security," says Trishneet.

Today TAC Security has clients which include names like AMUL, Avon Cycles, CBI, Punjab police among others. "I was even appointed as the IT advisor to Punjab Police Academy," says Trishneet.

Trishneet's firm so far has raised a pre-series A funds from the MD of Kedia securities, Vijat Kedia and is looking to raise more than $10 million further next year in Series A funding. He plans to expand further by opening up offices in and around Silicon Valley and also take his Cyber Emergency Response Team solution to many more clients across the globe.

As we end the meeting, he cheekily reminds me about the importance of cyber security by saying – "There are two kinds of people today – those who are hacked and those who are waiting to be hacked."

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